Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday pleaded ignorance about any move by his government to withdraw general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for probing cases in the state and dismissed a claim to made to this effect by a senior leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the largest constituent of the ruling alliance in the state.
“I do not know who speaks what. I don’t know about that,” Kumar said in Patna on Monday.
Upendra Kushwaha, chairman of parliamentary board of Kumar’s party, the Janata Dal (United), also rejected RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari’s claim that the state government was considering such a move.
“Shivanand Tiwari has wrong information. There has been no meeting between the government and the ruling alliance constituents regarding this. There has been no discussion in Bihar to stop CBI from investigating without permission,” Kushwaha said, referring to a meeting of ruling alliance, the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) leaders held in the state capital on Sunday.
Tiwari, a former MP, had said on Sunday that Bihar would be among the few states where CBI would have to take consent of the state government prior to starting an investigation. His statement came in the wake of CBI raids at the premises linked to two party MPs and an MLA.
“We suggested the implementation of a provision where the state’s consent should be taken prior to CBI investigation. Since the arrival of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, CBI , ED and IT were being misused,” Tiwari said on Monday as well.
Speculation has been rife that Bihar, which recently witnessed power transfer from the National Democratic Alliance to a reinforced Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), ousting BJP from power, could soon become the 10th state in the country to withdraw general consent to the CBI.
CBI requires consent of the state government for a probe under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, the law that governs the agency’s functioning.
Since 2015, nine states, mostly ruled by parties opposed to the BJP, have withdrawn general consent to the CBI.
BJP reacted to Tiwari’s comment, saying that the GA government was feeling insecure. “The grand alliance government is feeling insecure because of internal political contradictions and corruption related issues in which RJD is trapped,” said Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand.
